Nazareth College will present two lectures by Father John Dear as part of the William H. Shannon Lecture Series.

The first, “Disarming the Heart, Disarming the World: The Peacemaker’s Work Today” will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 10, in the Otto Shults Community Center. The second, “Peace Be With You: Practicing Nonviolence in a World of Violence and War” is at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, September 11, in the Golisano Academic Center.

Dear has traveled extensively through the war zones of the world and has been arrested more than 70 times in support of peace. He has authored many books and he’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Rochester school district will hold “Start Strong” on Saturday, September 12: an all-day event featuring parent-student workshops, meetings with school officials, music, games, food, and entertainment.

Bryon Garrett, chair of the National Family Engagement Alliance, will be the keynote speaker. The event will be held at the Benjamin Franklin Campus, 950 Norton Street, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Information and registration: www.rcsdk12.org. BY TIM LOUIS MACALUSO

The public will have a chance to weigh in on an early step in the environmental review of Palazzo Plaza when the Brighton Town Board meets at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Avenue.

The project’s developer, Daniele Family Companies, has prepared its draft outline for the project’s environmental assessment. The outline lays out issues — including traffic and drainage impacts, design, and lighting — which the developer will analyze in the review.

Palazzo Plaza is a plan to redevelop a handful of Monroe Avenue properties immediately southeast of I-590. The plaza would be anchored by a 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods store, and would also include a bank, a Starbucks, and retail. It’ll replace Mario’s Italian Restaurant and Clover Lanes; the Daniele family owns and operates Mario’s and plans to relocate the restaurant somewhere nearby.

Neighbors have said that they’re especially concerned about the traffic that the project will generate. That section of Monroe is already congested, they say, and adding a high-draw business such as Whole Foods could create safety issues on Monroe and in adjacent neighborhoods,

Some neighbors want the project scaled back, and some don’t want it at all.

The Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council will hold a public forum on its Upstate Revitalization Initiative application from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The forum will be held at Wegmans Conference Center, 200 Wegmans Market Street, Gates.

The Upstate Revitalization Initiative is a competition between the state’s seven Upstate regional economic development councils; the Buffalo region isn’t eligible. The three winning regions will each receive $500 million in economic development funding.

The Finger Lakes council’s draft application is available here. You can offer input here. BY JEREMY MOULE